ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Officials with the State of Kansas can now continue celebrating Kansas’ economic development.
Wednesday, Fitch Ratings, a global credit rating agency, released its credit rating outlook for the State of Kansas. Fitch Ratings upgraded Kansas’ outlook to “Positive” from “Stable” and affirmed Kansas’ “AA” rating status.
Fitch ratings now joins Moody’s as the second rating agency to upgrade Kansas’ credit rating in recognition of Gov. Laura Kelly’s tenure of responsible fiscal leadership, according to a release from the State of Kansas.
“Earning a second credit outlook upgrade from Fitch, after Moody’s upgrade in May, is yet another recognition of the hard work and discipline it took to climb out of the fiscal hole the previous administration had dug,” Gov. Kelly noted in the State of Kansas release. “Kansas is in the best financial position it has been in more than a decade, but it is not a position we are guaranteed to maintain. I urge Kansans to hold elected officials accountable to maintain our positive trajectory instead of ushering in a return to the days of crumbling roads, four-day school weeks, and budgetary gimmicks.”
In its announcement , Fitch referenced Kansas’ increased fiscal resilience and improved budget practices as prime contributors to the upgraded outlook. Gov. Kelly’s leadership in building up the $2 billion Rainy Day Fund, paying down debt and using one-time funds for one-time projects, and closing the Bank of KDOT were significant factors in Fitch’s decision to affirm Kansas’ AA rating, the release continued.
“Earning a rating outlook upgrade from a nationally recognized credit rating agency is not something that is accomplished in one or two years,” Adam Proffitt, Director of the Budget for the State of Kansas, noted in the State of Kansas release. “This upward revision to our outlook is a product of the emphasis that this administration has placed on restoring fiscal sanity to the State’s budget under Governor Kelly’s leadership.”
In May 2026, Moody’s upgraded Kansas’ credit outlook from stable to positive. In its announcement, Moody’s attributed this upgrade to an improved governance structure, strong rainy-day reserves, a reduction in the state’s debt obligations, and implementing tax cuts that are responsible in nature.
Under Gov. Kelly’s leadership the state has seen upgrades and positive affirmations to credit ratings and credit outlooks in February 2023, January 2024, and May 2026. The continuing positive trend follows years of negative trends, including S&P downgrading the state’s credit rating from AA+ to AA in August 2014, S&P puts the state on a negative credit watch in 2016, the State of Kansas’ Moody credit outlook being dropped from “Stable” to “Negative” in 2016, S&P downgrading the state’s credit rating from AA to AA- in 2016, and S&P downgrading the state credit outlook from “Stable” to “Negative” in 2017.
